He at first abuses his temporary prosthesis, which his PT takes away from him until the contact point on his leg can heal, and he is forced to use crutches for a while. And at first Mitch rejects the horse that has been trained for him at home, a gelding who will allow him to mount from his good leg and who can help someone who does not have two whole legs balance (since you use your legs extensively for balance and to signal the horse). And Mitch was lectured extensively by his physical therapist for his ‘poor me’ attitude.

So there was quite a bit about the context of his condition and the things he was initially turning his back on, the challenges he had to deal with. But he does come around, if that makes a difference to you.

One of the things I appreciated, actually, was that this was a permanent condition and not some magically healing Romance disease.

@Jill D.: Oh, I SO HATED it when Skye did that! The *one* thing that basically saved that part of the book for me was that Mitch didn’t fall to her level. And that allowed me to read through, even though I thought what Skye did totally undermined her being sold as a strong characters. Bah.

I wonder why it’s alright for a hero to whine that his life is over and he’s less than whole, but you never read about real issues? They don’t have accessibility problems, on-going pain, or PIA health insurance for example. Would these things make a HEA impossible for the average reader to believe?

For those of you interested in a real amputee hero, I provide this link to a friend of mine (crossing my fingers it works).

Normally, I love Susan’s books and was hopeful for the series the first two left me cold and when I reached into my wallet and paid for the third installment I have to admit being apprehensive. Thankfully, the third book is my favorite by far in this series and I can’t wait to read the fourth.

Has anyone else noticed that lately series books are getting to repetitious. I feel as if 1/3 of the book is giving me back story. I think that the authors should try harder to make them stand alone.

you know, Joann Ross has a book out (“Shattered”) where the hero loses a leg and after a month or so of grieving about it, gets on with his life and ends up with a really good attitude about it. I wasn’t sure how realistic that attitude was, so am glad that you mentioned that that seems to be the norm, rather than Mitch, who was so emo about it.

Overall, this series has been a pleasant read-but not keepers.

@Sally: Almost everything about that first book rubbed me the wrong way, from Lexi’s TSTL ‘avoid sleeping with Cruz by discontinuing the birth control pills’ strategy, to the offensive Latino stereotypes that shaped Cruz’s history. Despite the problems I had with this book, most of which were related to Skye and Jed’s characters, it was a big step forward from the first one, IMO.

@AnimeJune: I may not have made this clear in the review (in part to avoid spoilers), but that plot line does not last past *maybe* the middle of the book. It’s really more a means, IMO, for Mallery to keep Mitch and Skye tussling for a while.

Not ANOTHER “hero-who-lost-his-leg-in-Afghanistan-and-now-is-bitter-and-feels-incomplete” romance …